


Rituals of the Bittersweet

by Calacious



Series: January in February [11]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Double Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29370099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calacious/pseuds/Calacious
Summary: The afterlife isn’t what James and Lily had expected it to be
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Series: January in February [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139471
Kudos: 1
Collections: Ficuary





	Rituals of the Bittersweet

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Ritual

The afterlife isn’t what James and Lily had expected it to be. It’s not unpleasant. Not exactly. There are no feelings of remorse, no thoughts of regret. Not that they wouldn’t rather be in the land of the living, watching their only son grow up, but that thought (when it does come, which is rare) doesn’t stick with them for any real length of time, and they do not regret having died saving his life. 

“If I were to have one regret,” James says at length one day or night (time is meaningless in this place, too). “I think it would be that I did not treat Severus Snape better when we were kids.”

“You could have treated him, and Peter, better. You and Sirius,” Lily agrees. “But this is not the place for regrets.”

“I know,” James says, wishing he could feel something other than happy and content, especially knowing what his son is going through, what is yet to come. 

It won’t be an easy road for Harry and his friends. Theirs is a road fraught with danger, and death, and plenty of regrets to be had in the land of the living. Regrets that will only leave them once they’ve shed their temporary bodies and moved on to this existence.

“Come, love,” Lily says, pulling him away from the thin veil that separates them from the land of the living. The ‘looking glass’ that gives them a peek into the place they’ve left behind. Standing there indefinitely is not allowed, it’s one of the few rules of the afterlife, yet James finds it hard to tear his gaze away from Harry who is laughing (a rare occurrence) with his friends while dining in the Great Hall. 

“It’s time for our ritual,” Lily says, and James lets her lead him away, though he wants to stay. “It’s the only way we’ll be able to help him when it’s time,” she reminds him, and James turns away from the laughter and toward an end that he knows will be bittersweet. That’s all there is left now for Harry, the bitter mixed with the sweet. James hopes it will be enough to see him through.


End file.
